It’s Monday morning and that means back to the grind for most people after a relaxing and sometimes destructive weekend.

I know for me personally I overate and drank but it was my 40th Birthday this past Saturdayand so my girl made sure it was extra special with plenty of good home cooking and special treats. Yesterday was spent running around getting my house ready for Christmas with a tree, I don’t do fake, and plenty of new decorations.

Now I get it. It isn’t always easy to get geared up and tackle Monday’s. I know many people dread this day of the week as it typically means the start of another week of work, school, kids, responsibilities and the list goes on.

It’s funny to me as I see only the truly dedicated show up to the gym ready to do work on Monday while the rest will make excuses and blow it off.

I’ll be honest though, I actually enjoy Mondays. Yeah, you’re probably reading this and saying, what the hell but it’s true.

Monday’s always present me with new ideas, a fresh start to tackle my goals, killer workouts and another chance to challenge myself to become the absolute best man that I can be.

Now it’s true that I strive to live every day like this but there’s something special about Monday.

I am recharged after the weekend and I walk into the gym office ready to go. I’ve had a lot of inspiration hit me over this past weekend which makes it exciting for me to get up and go.

If you’re someone who struggles on Monday, I invite you to start looking at it from a different perspective.

First off, what are you excited about? What are you working towards? What are you passionate about?

If you have nothing to be excited about, are working towards or are passionate about, then I could totally understand why Monday’s may suck for you.

In fact, it is said that around 70% of the American population hates their job and to me, that’s a pretty sad statistic. It’s no wonder Monday’s are so dreaded.

If you fall into this statistic you may not be able to change your job situation but there are some things that you can definitely do to put some excitement and passion back into your life to make Monday’s more worth waking up for.

The number one thing I will advise here is for you to take extreme pride in what you do always be grateful. Coming from a place of a cheerful heart for your job, health, finances, family, faith, etc will always empower your happiness and outlook on life. You’ll never be happy if you can’t be proud and grateful for where you’re currently at.

Now this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t want better for yourself or strive to fix things that may make you unhappy but if you can’t be grateful and cheerful, none of what I’m about to suggest next will do anything for you.

Second, examine what are you passionate about? Think of your hobbies, your interests and activities you enjoy the most. Can these be shared with others. Do you have a way of teaching or helping others with your passion?

In the world of shared information via the internet, the options are limitless of how you can coach, mentor and teach others how to do literally anything. Are you a grill master? Love photography? Great at piano? Enjoy gardening? Are a sports statistics fanatic? Enjoy working on old cars? Furniture restoration? Flipping houses? Why not teach it to others?

Third, package your passion capitalize on it. This could mean financially or emotionally. I have a sister who loves photography and every chance she gets, she has her camera out… so if you ever come to one of my family gatherings, you’d better be prepared. I have a sister in law who loves to bake and knit. She’ll bring goodies to my brother’s work for all the employees to enjoy and knit gifts for friends and family.

Neither my sister or sister-in-law capitalize on these things financially but they receive far more joy in their hearts by doing what they love for others.

Both my brother and I have capitalized financially on our own talents and passion.

I of course, in the fitness industry and my brother, being much more artistic, has done so as a Tattoo artist.

When you start sharing your passion with others a couple of things happen. You become more inclined to work on yourself, becoming better and better at what you do. You strive for excellence because that’s how you want people to perceive you.

Personally, I don’t want to be know as the ok trainer or the gym down the road but rather as the place to go when someone really wants results. The best personal training facility in town.

I know my brother doesn’t want to put crappy artwork on someone and having them regret ever deciding to get a tattoo. I’m pretty sure he would want them to be proud to show off his work for the rest of their lives.

Of course, teaching or providing a service to others isn’t the only way to add excitement to your life or live out your passion.

Other things that I’m passionate about are:

*Being a good father and role model

*Traveling

*Having a Strong Mindset

*Being strong in my Faith

*Being a good man and lover to my girlfriend

*Shooting guns

*Cooking on the Grill

*Boating and Fishing

*Writing

*Movies (I’ll hit you with quotes all the time)

And the list goes on. This doesn’t mean that I’ll turn all these things into something I’ll capitalize on and obviously some are just very personal to me. But each one of these things fills my heart, especially when I can bring joy to someone else’s life whether that be a family member, friend, client or complete stranger.

I take great pride in everything I do and don’t treat anything in my life as trivial.

The impact that we have on others can be very beneficial or demeaning, however we choose to treat others.

With that said, I encourage you to be good to others, live your life with extreme purpose and live out your passion, no matter what it is and I can almost guarantee you that your Monday’s will be less dreaded from here on out!